Route One's Daily Football News Round-Up - 19/9/2012

We find the latest football news stories making the headlines, so you don’t have to. 

A last-gasp winner from Cristiano Ronaldo broke Manchester hearts at the Bernabeu in a thrilling Champions League curtain raiser.

Pic courtesy of www.cristianoronaldopics.com/

Real Madrid had bombarded Joe Hart in the Man City goal, but the Light Blues took the lead against the run of play after a tidy finish from substitute Edin Dzeko. 

The Galacticos fought back through Marcelo, but then fell behind again when a free kick out wide from Alexander Kolarov sailed straight in untouched.

In a madcap finish, Karim Benzema equalised before Ronaldo’s effort deceived the unsighted Hart, prompting a wild ‘school disco slide on the knees’ celebration from Jose Mourinho.

Afterwards, Hart was highly critical of his team, prompting a rebuke from his manager Roberto Mancini.

"You can't go 2-1 up with five minutes to go and lose the game," England’s Number One said. "We can only blame ourselves." 

But Mancini insisted that he is the only ‘judge’ that matters. "If anyone should criticise the team, I should criticise the team, not Joe Hart," he responded.

Elsewhere in the Champions League, French aristocrats PSG started their campaign with a 4-1 demolition of Dynamo Kiev, whilst AC Milan were held to a goalless draw at home against Anderlecht.

Borussia Dortmund, Porto, Malaga and Schalke will also be pleased with their starts as they saw off Ajax, Dinamo Zagreb, Zenit St Petersburg and Olympiakos.

Meanwhile back in Blighty, Blackburn maintained their good start to the campaign with a win over Barnsley, cementing their position at the top of the Championship table.

In a packed night of Football League action, Blackpool crushed Middlesborough 4-1 to stay second, Hull and Leeds took part in a humdinger at Elland Road which ended 3-2 to the Tigers, and Derby held off a late comeback from Charlton to also run out 3-2 victors.

There were also wins for Cardiff (against Hull), Birmingham (Bolton), Bristol City (Peterborough) and Brighton (Watford).

In League One, Tranmere remain unbeaten after their 3-0 triumph against Bury.

Victories for Stevenage and Swindon kept them in touch at this early stage, whilst Mk Dons and Notts County duked out a 1-1 draw.

At the other end of the table, a fourth straight defeat for managerless Coventry consigns them to joint bottom of the division, a year after relegation from the Championship.

In League Two, Gillingham stay top despite ending their 1-0 victory against Southend with ten men.

They are joined in the automatic promotion spots by Port Vale and Exeter, who secured wins against Fleetwood and Wycombe respectively.

Chesterfield and Accrington fought out a seven-goal thriller – which the Spireites eventually took 4-3, whilst Barnet remain routed at the bottom following a 1-0 reverse at Aldershot.

In managerial news, Coventry City are set to unveil Mark Robins as their new manager, according to Sky Sports.

The former Barnsley gaffer is the frontrunner to replace Andy Thorn, who won the unenviable race to be first manager sacked this campaign back in August.